EVANSTON — Earlier this week, students discovered graffiti on the sides of Northwestern’s iconic Arch. The graffiti was written in Chinese, reading “I’m only here since I didn’t get accepted into an Ivy school.”

Michael Li, one of the students who saw the message, said, “It was easy to miss since everybody is either texting or pretending to read the flyers on the sidewalk to avoid making eye-contact with anyone, but I looked up at just the right moment and the message was clearly visible.”

By Monday, however, the graffiti was gone. Li commented, “The torrential rain this week probably wiped the message away. The perpetrator probably planned this message with the reliable weather forecast so he could spread his message and avoid punishment.”

Many students were shocked that someone would desecrate Northwestern’s Arch. Freshman Kyle Jones said, “I’m sure we’ve all thought about taking out our anger at Northwestern’s ridiculous tuition rates or our perpetual diversity problems or the ridiculous amount of homework we have at one point or another. But to go far as to deface the Arch? That seems far-fetched.”

Others, however, see this as an opportunity. Dylan Kerry, an incoming freshman, commented, “I see this as a way of expanding our school’s traditions. Instead of the same old paint the rock nonsense, why not start painting the Arch? It’d be a cool way to tell people about the events that are going on without them having to look at the boring rock all the time.”

In fact, students have already created petition on Change.org to garner more support for “painting the arch.” As Weinberg junior Macy Jackson said, “What better way to get people to support you than through online petitions? I’m sure we’ll have the 4,000 signatures necessary to submit to Morty, who’ll love seeing such activism on campus.”